Hollow Hand - Ancestral Lands (2015)

In a rambling sort of fashion I found myself reading wikipedia links from one page to another, something I'm sure we've all experienced. Today I found myself looking into illegal radio operations in the North Sea. You know, the type that they installed into wartime facilities miles afar into the ocean waters that British government had abandoned. This was even done by the respectable lunatic, Screaming Lord Scutch. All this got me nostalgic British music of the 60s. However, as a good anarchist will tell you nostalgia is not a terribly productive emotion, so we're gonna hear something new that just rings of 60s England.

Hollow Hand are indeed from England, from the capital of London at that. They've managed to hook up with the illustrious blog-turned-label Ongakubaka Records and put out an album on cassette on the 8th of this month. I am, as always, reliably tardy in delivering the news. Yet the tunes sound as good as ever despite my lack of punctuality. As I hinted at before, the album has a retro 60s psychedelic style, veering heavily into the harmonizing folksy kind, and not without a healthy share of Eastern instrumentation to be heard. Like much subtle and non-bombastic albums, it is rewarding to give it a few listens. Upon hearing all the nuances of the music and the exacting nature of the vocals it really begins to take on a life of its own within the listener's imagination. As usual for picks from Ongakubaka it is undoubtedly an album worthy of spending time with.

Finally, that album art is right up my alley. Hardly gets better than early modern religious paintings or iconography. After all, the background of this blog as been our boy Hieronymus Bosch for years.

To be had here:
Hollow Hand - Ancestral Lands

Attic Fowler - City Hall (2015)

It seems it won't ever warm up in the in the Midwestern United States this year. It lightly snowed in late April, a phenomenon I've seen all my life yet everyone seems shocked and appalled at it's occurrence. However, I am starting to get on board with this outspoken disbelief as I'm sitting my barely 50°F apartment in mid-May. The Milwaukee musician known as Attic Fowler will most likely be able to relate to this unseasonably brisk spring experience from across Lake Michigan.

Despite the colder temperatures here, I'm unwilling to yield in my attempts to adopt summertime activities, in which sitting on my modest balcony and having a drink while I try to winnow down the backlog of submitted albums. And while the sun still saw fit to shine some warming rays on me I got to throughly enjoy the shimmering dream pop of Attic Fowler's City Hall. Fitting neatly between fuzzy psych-pop, jangle pop and abstract folk, he's hit upon a well-engineering sound for porch musing. There's even wind chimes introducing the tracks "My Mountain House" and "My Mtn House," and yes those are two different versions of a song curiously back to back in the middle of the album. Can't get more spot on than a strangely echoing version of what you just heard speaking of blissful notion such as mountain home in Tennessee (I think that is that word he's saying at least). It's very much the sort of album to hear from start to finish, allowing the varying sound to carry you through most pleasant journey. Nevertheless, look out for how awesome he songs "Shadowing," "Day Dreamer" and most especially "Tieppertien." Boy howdy, I love that "Tieppertien." The real gem that song is I have a feeling this is the sort of album that repeated listening will yield new favorites.

City Hall has been released via Fall Break Records, based in Athens, GA like the just previously posted Arnold Fish album from G.O.D. Records. Naturally we cannot be surprised that the ever-musically active Athens is issuing so many excellent records so be sure to check out the other Fall Break releases I've gotten a chance to write up.

To be had here:
Attic Fowler - City Hall

Bonifrate - Sapos alquímicos na Era Espacial (2002) [reissue]

Temperate climates are awful. Whenever it decides to get warm and then cold and warm again, which is every goddamn spring and autumn in Michigan, I get sick. On top of it even the slightest bit of my body getting out of whack results in a near constant state of mild feverishness. Not stressful as it is exhausting, so I fucked off about posted for a few days. However, I haven't been sleep all too well with this damn cold buzzing in my head, so I've been listening to my big catalog of mp3s. Realized I come back to Brazilian music all the time when I'm trying to relax. So imagine my delight when a friend from São Paulo told me that one of my favorites, Bonifrate, has reissued an older EP with additional tracks.

Sapos alquímicos na Era Espacial was originally released in 2002, and was actually something I was missing from my collection of Bonifrate's tunes. And boy howdy was I ever missing something amazing. This EP is fucking outrageously good. Soft, fuzzy psych-folk and indie pop sung in that dreamy Portuguese, only a monster wouldn't like it. Also, the very notion it is an EP at all this questionable (see the question mark in the album art?), for it's album length without the additional tracks. I'm all the more thankful for it, as I cannot get enough of this. Doing a hell of a lot better job at quelling these infernal headaches than any ibuprofen has.

To be had here:
Bonifrate - Sapos alquímicos na Era Espacial

EP Grab Bag vol. 92

So much coming in it is far to keep up with all these EPs and LPs. Yet I believe we've some real winners in this Grab Bag. Releases not to be missed and totally worth the delay in getting them up because my life is an utter mess.

To be had here:

Leggy - Nice Try (2015)

Cincinnati's Leggy has another EP out, something I am extremely excited about. In maybe a slightly more inspired fits of moping around the internet I stumbled on their first EP, Cavity Castle, and haven't been able to stop listening to ever since. And the follow-up, Nice Try, is more than the humble title would imply. The songs retain all the fuzzy, witty and completely endearing qualities that lead me to become such a devoted fan to the first EP. The track "Grrrls Like Us" is sure to be stuck in my head as nonstop as I've found "Chardonnay Summer" from Cavity Castle to be. I wish the very best for Leggy and I can only dream they play Detroit soon.

Grotto Girl - Besides, (2014)

Here's something special indeed. New Orlean's Grotto Girl makes lo-fi indie pop and rock tunes, the sort of things I have been helplessly addicted to since middle school. They tell me they're a new band, but songs on this EP such as "Liar Face" and "Teens" had me recalling many longstanding bands to which I feel they're already well on the way to equalling. "Friends" is a charming garage pop tune that packs more than the minute and half playtime would imply. The entire EP is a fuzzy bliss that I most highly recommend. A band to keep an eye on if there's ever been one.

Copneconic - Bein Sweet EP (2015)

This band is from Fenton, Michigan. Only a bit over an hour on the expressway from me, and it is a town of the same size and demographics as the one I grew up in. Just so happens Fenton has more musical history, as one can dig into with the amazing three LP set of reissued 60s Michigan garage rock called Scream Loud!!! The Fenton Story. Copneconic has kept the music making alive in Fenton with their EP here. While it has elements that're close to garage it is certainly more of a lo-fi punk band, influenced by the 90s period of post-hardcore and emo to be sure. The songs are intense and competent, bearing a perfect amount of nostalgia for a late twenty something like me.

Jardim infinito e a banda das águas - Primeiro Ato (2014)

As the quite wordy name of this band suggests, they're from Brazil. They play a sort of psychedelic folk-rock that's fully instrumental. The songs are surprisingly epic for being as short as they are. Don't even breach the four minute mark, but you'll easily find yourself lost in the complex and wandering sounds nonetheless. Almost cinematic if it wasn't for the attention they attract to themselves. Also, without a doubt the best EP of this bunch for me to play at work without upsetting anyone, which is exact what I did this morning. A true crowd pleaser, even for the old betties I have to sell shit to.

Azzuro Peaks - Skimming Surfaces, Orbiting Space (2015)

I don't feel like this is the first band I've gotten from Derby, England nor the second for that matter... gonna have to look into that place for the music seems significantly righteous. Azzuro Peaks, despite the Italian-esque name, another British band from this town. They play psychedelic folk with fast, trippy guitars and beautiful vocal work. Even with just the three tracks on the EP, a good sense of the raw talent is apparent. There are more releases on bandcamp and they should be worth checking out too.

Paavoharju - Joko sinä tulet tänne alas tai minä nousen sinne (2014)

I've long held a theory that my musical tastes are cyclical and that I loop back around to things I recall ever so fondly from months or years ago start digging around in a genre, scene or even a particular artist's discography. While, I have been remembering my affinity for Finnish experimental music. It can be hard to describe with a mess of adjectives, but what's for certain is that it's unique to Finland, rather like the Finnish language itself. As these returning obsessions burn rather strong I will doubtlessly share several of my favorites that have new material out, in fact it was already begun my Finnish campaign with mentioned Joose Keskitalo (a member of Paavoharju that has wonderful solo albums) in the Ellis Swan post and sharing Lasten Hautausmaa (a labelmate also on Svart Records) in the last Grab Bag. As such, each were preludes to the album I share today, Paavoharju's third album and the first full-length release since 2008's Laulu Laakson Kukista, the even longer-titled and mind-blogging to pronounce, Joko sinä tulet tänne alas tai minä nousen sinne.

For those that are familiar with the prior output of both Paavoharju and Joose Keskitalo this will have recognizable traits, but it is overlain with one of the more drastic of changes in style I can recall a band undertaking. Essentially, they kept their ethereal, psychedelic folk instrumentation, even retaining the Finnish chanting that made the previous albums so mesmerizing, and laid hip-hop on top. The hip-hop is in Finnish, which is something I've never experienced and can't compare to anything I've ever heard before. It isn't everywhere, they've classily spread it throughout the album and not made it the sole focus, though you will most certainly notice it. At first I was bewildered, but as I kept listening I found myself digging what Paavoharju was up to. It's a ballsy move, and it is rather well executed. It is undeniably a fine example of the Finnish avant-garde to which I am so deeply endeared, and different enough that it has achieved what good avant-garde should, making the listener re-assess their preferences and expand their palate.

To be had here:

Paavoharju - Joko sinä tulet tänne alas tai minä nousen sinne

A Big Silent Elephant - Sonne (2014)

Sonne has a fragile sound. A low fidelity and bizarre instrumentation of this psychedelia causes sound like it on a stiffening magnetic tape, ready to break and leave you wondering at the songs you've missed out on. It is like were lucky to have found these delightful, weird songs at all, which even if they are a digital release that's infinitely reproducible. Surely it is thanks to the internet that something like this could even find such a wide potential distribution.

The songs are mesmerizing in their minimalistic states. Often there won't be much more than enchanting lyrics, sung in a irreverent or ghostly choir-esque style, over acoustic guitar, simple percussion and various key and chimes that sound as if they could pass for child's playthings. This isn't to say the songs lack in any profoundness, they are moving in their own strange way, being very relaxing yet surreal. Perhaps the best example of this is "Oh Acid" but I would also suggest "Junk & Poison" and "Kollapsed" as fucking amazing tunes to have a beer and stop worrying about life to. Overall, I would highly recommend this album to fans of Nate Henricks or IL CULO DI MARIO, as while neither of these are quite the same style, they share a mood.

A Big Silent Elephant is a new moniker for an Italian musician sometimes known as Mauro Da Re, who's become a reoccurring presence on Spacerockmountain. He previously went by a Man with a Broken Piano, having put out a few EPs under that name and a collaborative effort with the Turkish musician called Beyza. This new full-length from Poland's Resonating Wood Recordings was previewed in the Starlight 7" release of two of the track through the same label.

To be had here:
A Big Silent Elephant - Sonne

EP Grab Bag vol. 80

So here is a very psychedelic heavy mix of EPs, and percentage-wise a good deal British as well. I am getting so fucking many EPs in lately that if you haven't seen the one you sent in surface yet it is that I am combing through the backlog while not trying to ignore the full-lengths either (which obviously take more time to hear). Anyhow, I might even need to do two Grab Bags in the same week to get all of them out, but I can only hear so many in so many days, time being as it is with the physics, laws of nature and so on. These are what I got to hearing first, so they're in no particular order.

To be had here:

Yosa Buson - Dark Noontide (2014)

The triumphant return of Yosa Buson with a new three track EP of noisy experimentation. Blurring psychedelic and progressive aspects together they've produced pleasurably strange as well as starkly abrupt songs. Plus there's the short folk track that is the title song that they nailed the fuck out of. So throw some bones to Old Monster Records and remember that our own darling Elvis Dracula, in his slightly less vampiric persona, is a member of this Californian outfit.

Wett Nurse - Hissy Fit (2014)

Long time follow blogger, Ongakubaka, has made the leap into running a small label. He's not the first of my blogging colleagues to do so, but more the merrier and my faith in his taste is unshakable (for we often post the same things, and what else I find over there is impeccable). Wett Nurse is the first band one this new label and is a fantastic garage rock band making sensationally loud and lo-fi tunes. Everything about it is what you'd hope for a collaboration of a garage band and an underground music blogger. And that organ fucking rocks.

Carl Lewis: Track and Field - Whoever Wins, We All Lose (2014)

A folk punk band from the United Kingdom. I am pretty down with that concept right from the get-go. Folk punk does hold a special place for me, it being the most enjoyable sort of show to me attend despite my decidedly not punk personal style. So as you hear these pessimistic and cheeky, witty lyrics think of kids with black patches bearing white lettering, no leased dogs wandering around and an excessive amount of cigarette smoke.  Excellent stuff and liberating to hear the sweet sound of nihilism.

qualchan. - vertumnus. (2014)

This is a sound collage artist that I've shared previously in a Grab Bag, who is back with another two of schizophrenic samplings. The experience of hearing all these odd instrumental tidbits strung together out of context and with the fidelity reduced creates a very unusual reaction for me. All I can imagine is a dude chilling by an old boxy stereo ready to punch the record button on the tape deck as soon as something weird comes on, for some 10 to 25 seconds and then back to waiting. I am oddly jealous of this fictitious man, and that provides some insight as to what sort of crazy rich person I would make.

White Owl - Bad Luck Is Really All That I've Got Left EP

Our pal Brin and his buddies are back at it again, releasing another EP from their most superior Bristol-based psychedelic band, White Owl. I hope you heard the last two EPs, as you're sorely missing out if you haven't yet. This new effort holds up the high standard of the bluesy, washed out psych sound that've made all the White Owl songs fucking awesome. I find that all these EPs have a fine blend of the 60s psychedelic sound with the more modern lo-fi rock, and they invoke many happy memories of hearing British Invasion songs as a music pirating younger man. Nevertheless, I find this band unique and fresh in their style as those motherfuckers didn't buzzed like this then.

EP Grab Bag vol. 77

I won't lie. I have been burning the candle at a dozen ends lately. Working two jobs, trying to hustle up money on my only day off, writing this thing nearly daily. It is beaten my down, but I still had these gems ready in waiting to share with the pilgrims. Anyhow, posting might slow a bit, but I can't sustain this pace, never really have been, hence a history of blackouts. I won't leave the site unattended, just no more 6 or 7 posts a week, more like 3 or 4, as a human being can handle.

To be had here:

J Moss - Weak Off (2014)

Another psychedelic folk effort from our pal, J Moss, the fella behind the Modern Folk musical project and website, where a great interview with Charlie Slenko of Sioux Trial Records can be read right now. Four songs of earnest and surreal folk with a heavy buzz and lo-fi vocals that create an eerie ambiance of a lonesome setting that all too many of us know very well. So not just a good promoter, someone I am pleased to think of as a colleague, but a fine musician as well, which makes me more than a little envious.


JIBÓIA - Badlav (2014)

Remember these guys from last week? You should, was they were fucking great. Anyhow, seems there's a fresh EP just out so I get to share them twice in a row in the Grab Bag. The way their describing the EP like the Prince of Persia on acid, and that's a rather apt way of explaining they mixture of Mid-Eastern/Indian and psychedelic sounds form Badlav. The singing is absolutely hypnotically fantastical, with the far out guitar and electronic effects the songs have a power to transport the listener to somewhere wild and exotic, modern and ancient. Once again, released by that top-notch Portuguese label, Lovers & Lollypops. 

Caveman Woodman & Bam Bam Moss - Caveman Woodman & Bam Bam Moss (2014)

This is a Detroit band I ran across in my post-work, exhausted internet browsing. While I try not to post something merely because it is a Detroit area outfit, and that's where I live, I do get some small swelling of joy from hearing a good garage rock band from here. Mostly because the likelihood of me getting a chance to see them is highly increased and it will probably be affordable or free, which works with my budget of near destitution. The songs are fucking sweet, totally worth giving a whirl.

Lust For Breakfast - Lust For Breakfast (2014)

When I was casting around for a Scenes of a City location before the writing up either Lyon or Gijón I considered Turin, Italy. I still most talk myself into that place as a post, but I am spent on energy like you would not believe lately so I am not sitting on this goddamn awesome EP any longer. Lust for Breakfast has made four lo-fi garage rock songs I keep coming back to and continue to give me enjoyment. More on the pop side of garage, but very tastefully done and not all shitty like when a pop band fuzzes a guitar, like a garage rock back that got a bit more like a Mod rockers and wore a tie for once. Though as you can see in the album art, no shirt is actually wore.

The Modern Folk - American Mountain (2014)

Undoubtedly some of you are familiar with the Modern Folk, as beyond being a folk project it has a blog that has a similar vision to our own Spacerockmountain. It's mission is to promote the music that's out there, particularly the new (and sometimes old), interesting and freely heard songs of this era of technological revolution. They're going for the indie beyond the indie, those without even these than major label support, over at the Modern Folk blog, which to be honest is what we get here most of the time and it is most excellent to get to hear it. So if you're down with what we've been doing, you'll sure and shit be down with that site, so check it out. You can follow 'em on twitter while you're at it.

Wait up, remember when I said there was a folk project? I did, but I'll give you time to double check... Okay, so that folk project bears the very same name as the website I was just yammering about, the Modern Folk. And unlike much of the music that you'll find on the website, it is a more traditional meaning of folk in regards to music. You know banjos, mandolins, Appalachian tunes and all that wonderful stuff. Of course it isn't strictly sticking to any formula, as there's some electric guitar noodling and some rather pop-like rhythms to be heard (see that final track, "Nightmares"). In fact three of the eight tracks are original, yet that leaves the majority of the songs as creative interpretations of traditional songs that you've surely heard if you're a listener of folksy music. What they sound like are some lo-fi, psychedelic-tinged pastiches of folk that is so agreeably executed it is easy convinced on the valid of the artistry in repurposing folk music. I cannot help be be charmed by as finely done lo-fi version of Bascom Lamar Lunsford's "I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground."

To be had here:
The Modern Folk - American Mountain

Brother Earth - Positive Haywires (2014)

Misty mornings are all the rage here in the Bay Area, as California's sunny visage is draped in cloud cover until just about noon. Seeing that I have extensive traffic to drive through on my way to work, playing tunes that match up with this reality is a necessity. Moody jazz and minimal classical are often employed, but the mystic psych-folk of Brother Earth is a fine addition to my AM collection. Released by Hidden Shoal Records, this American duo is made up of two gentleman who have quite the indie pedigree (one of them was the Guided by Voices producer). The lush, highly refined sound they capture on this single demonstrates that these guys are not playing around; these songs are for the ages.

It's a free download so get it now.

Grab it here:
Brother Earth - Positive Haywires (2014)

Underground River - Endless Air; the Other Side of Happenings (2011)

Underground River is a music project of Binghamton, NY resident Hunter Davidsohn. The songs are mostly folk with some minimal electronica thrown in for good measure. At times you might feel like you are sitting in a coffee shop, watching a friend play his earnest songs on acoustic guitar, with his weird uncle Fred in the background occasionally contributing some analog synthesizer to the mix.  I would say his influences are Bob Dylan, Danny Elfman, and The Silver Apples: an eclectic mix that yields results that are somber with whispers of futurism.

It's autumnal music with a lab coat instead of a pea coat.

In this collection of dirges, there are a couple songs where Davidsohn pushes the envelope to brilliant effect. "In The Sand" and "Golden Spinach" tap a vein unique not just to this record but to psychedelic music in general. This is mostly due to the strange digital effects incorporated into each: the former a tightly looped cymbal crash that cuts through the mix like a swarm of mechanical locusts, and the latter a looped bass and drum beat that sounds akin to the dissonant drones of Spacerockmountain favorite, The Dictaphone.

I insist you at least check out those two songs before moving along with your day. However, the impact of they carry is strengthened by the contrasting tone of the rest of Endless Air; the Other Side of Happenings, so my advice? Just listen to the entire record.

10 songs. Also available on vinyl.

Underground River - Endless Air; the Other Side of Happenings

Ted Allen - Human Health (2014)

Ted Allen is a solo project by a guy out in Richmond, VA whose name is neither Ted nor Allen, but Ben. Influences on Human Health, a record that's been a few years in the making, are varied and shattered, so pinning down certain bands or genres for comparison is akin to sewing  together a flag from a pile of rags. If you held a gun to my head, I'd call it melancholic bedroom psych-pop with a propensity for unsettling quirks.

Listen to the first 4 tracks and you'll think you have an understanding of where the rest of Human Health is going. It's introspective and psychedelic; autumnal and mellow. Then the track "Rented Library Books" comes on, and you find yourself listening to montage music straight out of a David The Gnome cartoon. But even here, or, most evidently here, is that destabilizing aspect to the songs of Ted Allen. Even in this whimsical interlude, where you can almost see Maya The Bee traipsing through the undergrowth... a foreboding rumble slides it's way over the synthesized oboe and bells, smothering them quickly into silence.. reminding us that every moment of happiness is ultimately tainted by the realization that it can't last forever.

And therein lies another repeated theme of Human Health. You'll hear something during the record and think, "Oh wow this is cool" and then it will end before it's had a chance to flourish. From the killer organ in the final moments of "Lors du Mariage, il S'ennuyait" to the expertly Neu!-esque vibe in the beginning moments of "Espression/Texts", my ears were bent and my interest piqued, but then the moments ended abruptly.

A little disappointing at first, but my initial naivety was quickly tempered as the give and take of the music lured me in. And there is much that delivers in these 10 songs, the final three being the strongest, the last of which is a beautiful and haunting piece called "Sontag". A perfect end to this record.

Fleeting but inviting, ghostly but warm, Ted Allen's Human Health is a work of ambition and obvious talent, both in song writing and production ... a soundtrack for that moment immediately after you wake up, grasping at fragments of some beautiful dream you can't quite remember.

Listen to it.

Sinthaxis – Bending Space Machine (2013)

Sinthaxis is a Portland, Oregon based band with a connection to Uruguay. First off, I learnt of this record when the label, Snake Handler Recordings were kind enough to send a couple of their vinyl releases to us. They play country-influenced psychedelic folk that feels chilled out and quite blissful with a worldly infusion of sounds. In particular they reminded me of the kraut-folk (it was a thing, trust) German band, Bröselmaschine with the mixture of Eastern, Western and Latin American. One can even detect the subtle influence of spaghetti Western soundtracks like those of Ennio Morricone, in "El Rey Adar" and "Babble on, Baby" especially. The album is diverse in its sound while remaining very true to an overall theme. For example the song "Wusûhihûñ_yǐ (There Where They Stay Over Night)" will demonstrate how a moaning chants and long instrumental wandering are just after the flourish-filled, twaggy guitar-driven tones of "Babble on, Baby." Each of the tracks has a degree of repeating core progressions that provides the same kind of meditative qualities of drone music. It is easy to lose oneself in these songs and forget your worries for a moment, something I could with more of all the time. The album can be streamed on the bands website, links to buy it digitally or physically are there too or you can email Snake Handler (Snakehandlerrecordings@gmail.com) directly and get a vinyl for $10 plus shipping.

To be had here:

Sinthaxis – Bending Space Machine

The Amphibious Man – Spit Globs (2013)

At least once a month, I find myself crawling through the woods, drunk off my ass and covered in someone else’s blood. That’s the kind of experience most of the living world never goes through, but it seems to be a consistent occurrence in my existence. I often don’t have a music device when I am doing so (or pants for that matter), but last night I heard the new Amphibious Man songs in my head as I scrambled to figure out if I were the hunter or the hunted.

See, I feel a kindred bond with this Brooklyn band (update: who happen to really be from Connecticut). Clearly, they are made up of like-minded psychopaths that have too much time and audio tape on their hands. I played the 7 inch backwards, and a message about disposing of corpses was exposed. Twisted? You bet. But just the kind of music you need to scare your parents when they no longer fear rappers.

Get it here:
The Amphibious Man – Spit Globs (2013)

EP Grab Bag vol. 44

Been too long since I posted up a Grab Bag. Found work here in Connecticut hence the lack of consistent posting, but be assured by the fact I'll likely be bitching about my new jobs here when I get to it so same old same old. Moreover, I was really bummed out to hear Lou Reed died so I have been listening to his music and all the submissions I can fit in lately to make up for my un discilpined music attention as of late. Here is what I have culled out of the submissions and sorry for being such a fucking deadbeat about this blog.

To be had here:

Yosa Buson - Black Sessions 1 & Black Sessions 2 (2013)

Here is a short collection of psychedelic tracks done by a group of experimental California-based musicians, including our very own Elvis Dracula. Nepotism, sure, but also it is really some damned righteous music. Besides by now you all should know to trust anything and everything that Elvis touches. It gets out there, best listened to with a beer and nothing on the mind but the music if you want my opinion. Lose yourself, what else have you got going for you if not fine, free tunes? These are sessions one and two and there should be a third coming to make for a group of EPs that'll become a cassette that you should keep an eye out for.

Shaky Shrines - Shaky Shrines (2013)

A debut EP by Pittsburgh's Shaky Shrines. Five droning psychedelic songs that feature some rather amazing guitar, dreamy singing and solid percussion. Basically, I am saying I like the way these guys play and I must've listened to this EP a half dozen times the day I downloaded it. Hopefully there is more to come from this band.

Coyotes In the Room - Preach (2013)

More music from the ultra-prolific Coyotes In the Room. They seem to be putting out something all the time, not that I am complaining as I have been a fan of each release. If you've liked the prior albums at all this'll be a good treat, as it keeps the fuzzy, folk/psychedelic rock mood. Subtle yet addictively done, if I may add. Additionally, the final track is a premium cover of Ace of Base's "I Saw the Sun." How much could one hope for?

Vinter - Vinter II (2010)

It was unknown to me when it was released a few years back, but this gem forwarded to me last week would have surely been on my best of that year. This Swedish band crafts some of the best haunting psych-folk I have heard. This is music that captures the sensation of dark mist rolling over snow-capped mountains. Mold clinging to the dead and the living. Ancient spirits reaching out from the hills, pulling you along with the slow moving wind. This is music made for the darkness and the loneliness felt in an unknown, distant landscape. 

This is patient, frigid music that makes the most out of the lo-fi ascetic and builds without the customary crashing peaks. This is titled “Vinter II,” and while I am unsure if there ever was a “I”, this should be a fine point in introducing yourself to the group. I only hope they have new music on the horizon.

So turn out the lights, forge a fire, and let this bring the old gods into your room. 

Get it here:

Vinter - Vinter II (2010)

EP Grab Bag Vol. 36

Remember when every small town across America had a record store? No?!? Well, I do and since we live in the digital age, I am treating these releases like they are fresh off the rack at my local music shop.

Bully Mammoth – EP 1 (2013)

These lads are a lucky bunch: their record just so happened to be at the end of an aisle at the very front of the rack. Prime browser buying territory. Deep vocals slide evenly into prolonged squeals of feedback and held together with a steady guitar line that keeps this noise-rock firmly in the rock territory. You know this record had some indie cred with its individualized screen-printed cover. 

Prevart – Symbols (2013)

I bought some of those massive, multi-disc Smashing Pumpkins releases back in the day. I still have them on my shelf, and I love that "this will be a converstaion starter" quality that comes with this. But this Kansas City experimental pop act takes this release a bit further, and has it on multiple formats that include a USB drive. I am not even sure how they would file that in the record bin, but it would probably earn it a little place at the front near the cash register. That ends up being a good thing as this release is a fun romp through delightful electronics and swirling synth lines laced with communicable vocals. I think I saw someone picking up a Kraftwerk record when they grabbed Symbols, so I imagine that fan base would enjoy this fine release.  

High School Heroin Addicts – The Grand Shazam and Other Tales (2013)

The local gutter punks always park themselves right in front of the shop with their poor dogs. Most of the folks that pass them by think they are all high, but I don’t get that impression. I am not even sure they know where to buy heroin. The closest they may get is a handmade copy of this groups new CD. It isn’t fast and angry, but it is a great romp through the psychedelic pop field. “Heart Rays” is the soundtrack to a long evening coming down from who knows what. These Canadians are part of something called The Order for the Black Dawn, and while I don’t know what that is, it sounds scary as shit, and so you should download this right away as to help bring about the coming of Satan.

Mobility Chief – Search Beneath Earth (2013)

There is a bearded guy with a Fender t-shirt buying this record, so I gather this is the kind of stuff proper musician’s rock out too. I hear some awesome, grandiose dueling guitar lines, and enough hooks to keep even those not accustomed to long instrumental pieces happy. No doubt these Knoxville kids get a lot of comparisons to Tortoise and Godspeed, and those would be fair associations. Not bad company to keep however. 

Temple Goer – Petrified Forest National Park (2013)

Some poor bastard didn’t have the funds needed to get this record, but they knew they didn’t want someone else to have it as it was crammed between the Incredible String Band portion of the folk section. I don’t know if the ISB followers would dig this, as it is very lo-fi experimental folk/drone material, but it stands to reason that this music lover will be back in the coming weeks to buy or steal this bad boy. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for well constructed collage music that still retains an infectious guitar focused quality.